Dental appliance.



W. D. TRACY.

DENTAL APPLIANGE.

APPLICATION FILED 00124, 1908.

Patented Sept. 13,1910.

@ I "JQL/Emon Ano/mers UNrTED s'rATEs PATENT oFFroE.

WILLIAM D. TRACY, OF NEW YORK., N. Y.'

DENTAL APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 13, 1910.

Application filed October 24, 1908. Serial No. 459,353. f

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM D. TRACY, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of New York, county and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Dental Appliances, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates more particularly to a coupling for detachablyholding the members of saliva ejectors together.

The primary object of the invention is ,to provide a simple andefficient device which may be readily applied to the usual or anypreferred form of saliva ejector in such a way that one of the membersmay be readily and quickly attached to or removed from the ejector tubemember, thus overcoming the objections incident to the means ordinarilyemployed for this purpose.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and eiiicientcou ling, which may be used in connection with ental appliances ofvarious kinds.

lVith these and other objects in view, the invention will be hereinaftermore particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification, and will then be ointed out` inthe claim at the end of the escription.

In the drawings, Fi ure 1 is a side elevation of one form of eviceembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view to Fig. 1, l

except that the entire mouth member is made of a single piece of metalor` other material; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section throughthe coupling.

In carrying out one a lication of the invention, a tube of suitableshape is provided, having one end formed with a suitable entrance devicefor receiving and conducting saliva from the mouth of a person int-o atube. The other end of the tube which is of a suitable length, isprovided with a coupling embodying the essential feature of the presentinvention, by means of which it may be readily attached to or detachedfrom a pipe or tube for conducting the saliva to a suitable receptacle.l

As shown in the accompanying drawings, the invention comprises a sallvaconducting tube or member constructed with a straight portion 1, and acurved or hook portion or end 2, terminating in a suitable salivaentrance or portion and as here shown consists of a bulb 3, havinglateral or concave recess portions i with a passage-way 5 connected witha passage-way in the tube of the instrument, the said member being madeof glass or of other material as is usual in devices of this character.The construction just described is of such a shape as to adapt thedevice to be inserted into the mouth under the tongue and suspended fromthe mouth of the patient while being operated upon in the usual manner.

To detachably hold the saliva member of the ejector tube 6, I provide aferrule 7 on the end of the part 1, to which may be quickly attached acoupling member 8, which has an enlarged milled or other surface or part9 to permit the coupling member to be held by the in ers. Projectin fromthe part 9 is a smaler ta ering ancgl tubular part 10 which is adapte tofit into a similarly formed opening 10a in the ferrule or member 7, andsaid tapering part may be ground or otherwise made to tit the opening10a so as to rovide a tight joint between the two mem ers, but whichpermits the coupling member to be quickly detached from the salivamember when it is desired to .remove said latter member from orto attachsaid member to the tube 6. The coupling member 8 has an openingextendin'therethroughso as to make the same tu ular, and projecting fromthe part 9 and opposite the part 10 1s a smaller part 10b which issomewhat larger than the opening in the tube 6 so that the latter has tobe forced over the same to provide a tight joint, and arranged aroundthe part 10b are one or more annular grooves 11, thus serving toproperly hold `'the tube and coupling memer properly together.

In Fig. 2 the construction is substantially the same as Fig. 1, exceptthat the saliva member is integral instead of comprising the glass part1' and the ferrule part 7 in which case the said saliva'member may bemade of brass, rubber or other material. In this case the member or part12 is provided with a tapering opening similar to that shown in Fig. 3for the reception of the taperin part 10, though it will be understood tat either member may be the male or the female member and may beseparate from or integralwith the mouth portion as desired.

From the foregoing it will be seen that a simple and etlclent couplingis provided whereby the saliva member may be' quickly attached to ordetached from the tube or part 6; that a simple and efficient salivaejecting appliance is provided, and that said coupling may be employedin connection with various forms of dental appliances.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent In a coupling for tubes, a hollow member provided witha tapered opening .extending for a portion of its length, an annularshoulder formed within said hollow member near one end thereof, said endexceeding the other end of said member in diameter and a tapered surfaceextending from the edge portion of the annular shoulder to thetermination of the first mentioned tapered porvenlarged grooved Surface,and the other end of the hollow member being adapted to incase the endportion of a tube, the end of said tube being adapted to rest upon saidannular shoulder.

This specification signed and witnessed this 21st day of October A. D.1908.

WILLIAM D. TRACY.

Witnesses:

W. A. TOWNER, Jr., A. REDMoND.

